


snapped strings

by demistories



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Arguing, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Queen Bee, bee chloe, fox alya, peacock nino
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 09:45:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10919301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demistories/pseuds/demistories
Summary: Marinette lunges for her headphones when she hears him land on the balcony. She wipes her cheeks with the sleeves of her sweater — not that it does much with how wet they are — and pretends she doesn’t hear him. Because she doesn’t want to hear him.She doesn’t want him near her right now.He knocks on the trapdoor.





	snapped strings

**Author's Note:**

> i dont know what happened today but all my friends started arguing and i spent almost two hours just crying. it was pretty bad. i wanted nothing more than for it all to stop or for someone to show up and just give me a hug
> 
> i dont think were going to be ok anytime soon 
> 
> take some bullshit. the characterizations are kind of shit. i wrote half of this while crying and didnt even reread it. im sorry

Marinette lunges for her headphones when she hears him land on the balcony. She wipes her cheeks with the sleeves of her sweater — not that it does much with how wet they are — and pretends she doesn’t hear him. Because she doesn’t _want_ to hear him.

She doesn’t want him near her right now.

He knocks on the trapdoor.

She can’t find her headphones in her mess of a bed. Her phone is on the floor now, where she threw it in frustration after Alya left the chat angrily and Marinette’s tears turned into sobs.

She’s just happy her parents haven’t come up to see what’s wrong yet. She wants to be left alone. _She doesn’t want him here_.

He keeps knocking.

She can’t pretend to be asleep because he can see through her trapdoor. Because she didn’t think to cover it.

She’s finding black fabric as soon as he goes away.

He knocks again. _Why won’t he stop knocking?_

Marinette wants to tear her hair out or scream or _anything_. But all she can do is cry. And cry and cry and just keep crying. She feels empty and broken and pathetic and— 

He knocks.

She throws the trapdoor open and shouts, “ _Go away!_ ” but the words get caught and twisted in her sobs and they break in a pitiful sort of way.

Chat stares down at her in surprise, like he didn’t actually think she’d even look him in the eye, let alone yell at him.

“Didn’t you get the message?” Marinette snaps. “I _don’t want to see you_!”

“I—”

“Leave me _alone_!”

Chat’s ears flatten against his head and he glances away, chewing on his bottom lip. “I… If you’re going to yell at me, you should come out here. You’re going to wake up your parents.”

Marinette tries to channel her pain into anger but it’s not working. It falls flat into nothing but sadness. She sniffs and wipes her cheeks again and hauls herself onto the balcony, closing her trapdoor with her foot.

Chat takes a step back, shoulders hunched.

“I hate you,” Marinette whispers. She wraps her arms around herself.

He winces. “I know.”

A sob wracks her body. “I’m mad at you,” she tries to hiss but it sounds more shattered.

“I’m mad at you too,” he says and the bite in his voice is almost surprising. He glares at her, and she notices that his glowing green eyes are watery. “And I’m absolutely _terrified_ of losing you. So you can yell at me all night and you can throw me off of every rooftop in Paris, but I’m still going to end up here, standing in front of you, because you are my partner and best friend and my family and I— I don’t know what I’d do without you and the thought of not having you around makes me sick to my stomach.” His voice drops to a whisper. “I’m so scared of being without you. And I am so sorry.”

Marinette stalks forward and hits his chest with her hands. “You’re _terrible_ ,” she snaps, blood boiling. Because she hates that he’s hurting and that she’s hurting and that _everyone_ is hurting. And she hates that she has no magical way to fix this and no supervillain she can blame and hunt down. And there’s no way this will ever be what it was again. She hits his chest again. “You’re awful. And I don’t know what to do or how to fix it—” she chokes back a sob, tears flowing freely down her face, “but you’re awful and I’m awful and we’re all just _awful_. And I— I—”

Chat hugs her like he thinks she’s going to disappear, tight enough so she can’t pull away, not that she wants to. He curls around her, and she suddenly notices he’s shaking.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and she _aches_.

Fighting always leaves her drained and empty, and as Marinette stands on her balcony in the dark of night, she can feel her energy dipping.

She hates arguing.

She feels so helpless.

“I’m sorry,” Chat says, voice shaking. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“She hates me,” Marinette says. “She hates me so much.”

She feels him shake his head. “She could never hate you.”

Someone lands on the balcony. She hears their feet hit the ground and feels Chat tense in her arms.

“I’m sorry,” Paon says softly.

Chat takes a slow breath.

Marinette is reminded of Nino’s messages as the argument got more and more heated. His desperate attempts at defusing the situation, changing the subject, and making forced jokes. They’d seemed so out of place and tone deaf.

Chat pulls away from Marinette. He presses a kiss to the top of her head before he turns around to face Paon. He forces a small smile, crooked and timid. “I am too.”

The tension rushes out of Paon’s body and he sags against the railing of the balcony. “Thank _god_ , dude, I was so worried that—” He shakes his head. “I don’t want to think about it.” He steps forward and throws his arms around Chat. It takes Chat a second to return the hug, but he returns it nonetheless. “I’m sorry that got so out of hand.”

“Me too,” Marinette hears Chat murmur.

She wraps her arms around herself and tries to convince herself it will be okay. She doesn’t know if they can talk about exactly what happened — she’s kind of terrified to try — but they’re talking and that’s…good. At least, some of them are talking.

“How did you know to come here?” she asks softly.

Paon meets her eyes. “You’re always the first one Chat goes to.” He releases Chat from the hug. “I took an educated guess.”

Marinette takes a shaky breath. “Were you still reading the chat?”

Paon nods slowly as Chat takes Marinette’s hand. “They were still, uh…talking. Because I added Alya back in because she thought of something else to say and they kind of went off— _Chloé_ kind of went off.”

“It was bad,” Chat mumbles. “But I don’t know what we could’ve done to fix it.”

“I think sometimes it’s just inevitable,” Paon admits. “If you stop up a volcano long enough, it’ll explode or something like that, right?”

Marinette forces a laugh. “Glad we’re a destructive force of nature that ruins lives.” She feels a pressure in the back of her head that tells her she’s going to start crying again. She didn’t think she had enough water left in her body for that, but apparently she was wrong.

Chat squints into the darkness. “If you want a force of nature, she’s about to crash land on your balcony.”

Paon steps out of the way as Queen Bee stops short and her heels skid on Marinette’s balcony.

They all stare at each other in silence for a long moment.

“I’m the worst,” Bee whispers hoarsely after the silence has stretched on for too long for anyone to be comfortable. “The absolute _worst_.” She balls up her hands by sides and stares at the ground with a glare that could set Paris aflame. “I— I’m sorry for ruining everything.”

It’s dark, but Marinette can see makeup marks on her cheeks where the mask doesn’t hide the tear tracks. Bee’s eyes are red and puffy and Marinette knows that under the mask she’s just as much of a mess as the rest of them.

“You didn’t ruin everything,” Chat promises.

Bee scoffs. “There was a little too much of a pause there for comfort, Adri,” she says bitterly. “This is what happens when you include someone beyond redemption in a fun little group of heroes.”

“Shut up,” Paon says.

Bee whirls toward him, ponytail nearly smacking him in the face. “ _Excuse me_?”

“I said, ‘shut up’.” Paon crosses his arms. “They don’t give a miraculous to just anyone. You’re here for a reason—”

“But—”

“Just because you’re make bad choices sometimes and say mean things doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. Bro, you’ve gotten so much better.” Paon shrugs. “Don’t invalidate yourself just because you screw up once. Cause…” he sighs. “We all screwed up tonight. Big time.”

Bee stares at him for a second before she yanks him into a tight hug.

Paon freezes before patting her back awkwardly.

“I’m so glad these things have trackers in them,” Bee mumbles into Paon’s shoulder. “I’m still not entire convinced you don’t all hate me.”

“We couldn’t hate you,” Marinette says.

Bee looks over her shoulder. “What?”

“We…” Marinette swallows and tucks her hair behind her ear. “You’re our teammate and our friend. We don’t hate you.”

Bee ducks her head. “Speak for yourself. I doubt Alya feels the same.”

“You won’t know until you ask her,” Chat points out.

“That sounds like a bad idea.”

Paon nudges Bee lightly. “Hey, who knows? The rest of us found our way onto Mari’s balcony. Maybe a certain fox will show up too.”

They all look toward the tower, like Vixen will come bounding over the rooftops at any moment.

Bee sighs and sinks to the ground, leaning against the bars of the railing. “I wouldn’t hold out hope,” she grumbles. “Not that I can blame her,” she adds quickly. “I was…terrible.”

“So was Alya,” Chat points out.

Marinette sits down on her chair and Paon crosses the balcony to join her.

“Can we all agree that we regret tonight?” Marinette asks.

Everyone nods.

“Get comfy folks,” Paon says, laying back in the chair as Marinette pulls his legs up onto her lap. “I’m pretty sure Alya is the most stubborn of us all.”

Marinette is glad that it’s a warm and clear night. She’s pretty sure Paon dozes while Chat paces back and forth restlessly until Bee grabs him by the arm and says he’s going to wear a hole in the balcony. Bee pulls him to the ground next to her and runs her fingers through his hair as he rocks and taps.

Marinette stares at the stars.

She still feels a little like she’s going to be sick. She’s still missing part of her team, part of the machine that makes them work, part of _herself_.

Her phone is still on her floor, possibly shattered, countless unread messages on her lockscreen. She doesn’t really want to read through them all later. Maybe she’ll just ask Nino for a more detailed rundown of what happened. Maybe she’ll just ignore it. Pretend it didn’t happen.

No, that’s a bad idea. They can’t move on like they didn’t completely shatter. The problems they confronted need to be addressed, or they’ll never be whole again. They have to pick up the pieces and glue themselves back together. They _have_ to. For Paris. And for themselves.

It’s quieter when she sees movement out of the corner of her eye and sees Vixen slowly making her way over. Vixen pauses every once and awhile, like she’s not completely committed to the journey yet.

Marinette shakes Paon awake.

Vixen leaps onto the railing of the balcony, balancing carefully on the thin metal.

Chat and Bee look up at her from the ground.

“Hi,” Marinette says softly.

Vixen’s eyes sweep over the balcony, taking them all in, expression stony. “I didn’t get the memo that we were having a meeting.”

“Impromptu and unofficial,” Bee says, her voice tight.

“Hm.”

Chat stands up and offers Vixen a hand. She stares at it. “I’m sorry,” Chat says. “For everything. Everything that happened tonight and anything that happened before and— and I’ll have a better apology in the morning, I swear.”

Vixen takes his hand and hops down from the railing.

Bee leaps to her feet and launches herself at Vixen, hugging her tightly as Vixen nearly topples backward. Chat steadies them as Vixen stares at Bee with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry that I was awful and mean and I should’ve been a better teammate and friend and you deserve better than me I’m sorry,” Bee blurts.

“I…” Vixen pulls away from Bee. Bee’s eyes go wide with worry, but Vixen holds Bee’s hands tight. “I’m sorry too,” she says slowly. “I was out of line.”

“So was I,” Bee murmurs.

Paon swings his legs off of Marinette’s lap and walks over to the group in two long strides. He puts a hand on Vixen’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Vixen nods, eyes starting to water.

Marinette stands, wringing her hands. “Me too,” she says. “I— Yeah. I’m sorry. To everyone.”

Paon grabs her by the arm and pulls her into a group hug. Bee immediately starts crying, and Marinette can feel herself getting close again too. Silent tears are running down Vixen’s face before she buries her face in Chat’s shoulder. Paon is hugging them hard enough to make it hard to breathe.

Things might be okay.

It’s going to take time, and a lot of work, but they’ll be okay. They’re a team built to get through the worst. They might break a bit, but they’ll put themselves back together in the end.

“I love you all,” Marinette says after a few moments, “but can we maybe go inside? Having almost all of Paris’ superheroes on my balcony might look a little suspicious.”

Vixen laughs. The relief Marinette feels at hearing it is indescribable. “Yeah,” Vixen says with a watery smile. “Let’s go inside.”

**Author's Note:**

> yeah they all already knew each others identities. i dont know what they were arguing about. some parts of this are more accurate to what happened to me than others
> 
> i feel tired and empty and kind of broken
> 
> one of my friends sent me a picture of a watermelon that he nailed bananas and table top pies to. i dont know if that helped or not


End file.
